by Paul Ramlow, publicity director, The Grand Circuit

This Week: Dexter Cup and Lady Suffolk, Freehold Raceway, Freehold, N.J.; John Simpson Memorial Stakes, Meadowlands Racetrack, East Rutherford, N.J.; Meadows Maturity, The Meadows, Washington, Pa.; and Chip Noble Memorial and Miami Valley Distaff, Miami Valley Raceway, Lebanon, Ohio.

Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit at Freehold this week features the $133,170 Dexter Cup for 3-year-old open trotters and two divisions in the $71,500 Lady Suffolk for 3-year-old filly trotters on Saturday (May 2). Meadowlands Racetrack offers the $39,416 John Simpson Memorial for 3-year-old filly pacers on Friday (May 1) and the $47,124 John Simpson Memorial for 3-year-old colt pacers on Saturday (May 2). Also on Saturday, The Meadows will feature the $62,100 Meadows Maturity for older male trotters. The Sunday (May 3) card at Miami Valley Raceway will feature the $100,000 (est.) Chip Noble Memorial for older pacing mares and the $100,000 (est.) Miami Valley Distaff for older trotting mares.

Complete entries for the races can be found by clicking on this link.

Last time: The George Morton Levy Series for open pacers and Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for open pacing mares wrapped up this past weekend at Yonkers Raceway.

Mike Lizzi photo

Domethatagain was a 1:51.1 winner in the George Morton Levy Series final.

Domethatagain and driver Daniel Dube waited patiently for the last few yards of racing room to get ahead of the field to win the $529,000 George Morton Levy Series final for older pacers on April 25 at Yonkers Raceway in a time of 1:51.1.

Domethatagain, by Bettor’s Delight-Road Sign, is trained by Rene Allard and owned by Allard Racing Inc., Robert Hamather and Bruce Soulsby. The Levy win brings his lifetime earnings to $824,551.

P H Supercam (Jason Bartlett) went to the lead from post eight and held that lead to the quarter (:27.2) and the half (:55.3). Past the half, Lucan Hanover (David Miller) came first up to the three-quarters in 1:23, while Domethatagain was content to wait in the pocket and sprung from that spot to win. Take It Back Terry (George Brennan), who made a long sustained bid on the outside, was second and Beach Memories (Yannick Gingras) was third. P H Supercam faded to fourth.

Venus Delight and driver Jason Bartlett let Yagonnakissmeornot and driver Brian Sears do the heavy lifting for most of the mile in the $261,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker final for older pacing mares.

In the final strides of the race, they came up her inside for the win in 1:52.4 by three-quarters of a length. Carolsideal and Daniel Dube, who were first over from the half on, finished third.

The daughter of Bettor’s Delight-Venus Killean had two earlier wins in the series and is trained by Jeffrey Bamond Jr. for Bamond Racing. It was the third win in five starts this year for the 5-year-old mare. Her career earnings are now $424,268.

Chris Gooden photo

Daylon Miracle was a 1:53.3 winner in The Meadows Maturity.

Daylon Miracle (Aaron Merriman) stalked 2014 Trotter of the Year Shake It Cerry from the pocket, then blew by the champ in the Lightning Lane to pull off a 5-1 upset in Friday’s (April 24) inaugural edition of the $51,100 The Meadows Maturity for mare trotters. Daylon Miracle triumphed in 1:53.3, four lengths better than Cowgirl Hall, with the winner’s stablemate, Anaffairtoremember, third.

In the first start of her 4-year-old campaign, Shake It Cerry led the field through a snappy 1:24.3 three-quarters but tired late and faded to fourth, beaten five lengths. Classic Martine, the 2014 Mare Trotter of the Year, was buried from post nine and never got involved, finishing sixth.

Bill Bercury, who owns and trains Daylon Miracle and Anaffairtoremember, called it the biggest win of his career. He had spoken of a 1-2 finish for his mares days before the race. It was a bold vision, and Bercury’s mares nearly pulled it off with their 1-3 result.

Complete recaps of the weekend races are available at the Grand Circuit website.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2015, the Grand Circuit leaders in three categories (driver, trainer and owner) will once again be tracked on a points system (20-10-5 for the top three finishers in divisions/finals and 10-5-2 for the top three finishers in eliminations/legs). Winbak Farms is the sponsor for the 2015 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders following the past weekend:

Drivers: 1. Daniel Dube – 125; 2. Jason Bartlett – 123; 3. George Brennan – 92; 4. Brian Sears – 68; 5. Tim Tetrick – 62.

Trainers: 1. Jeff Bamond Jr. – 154; 2. Ron Burke – 143; 3. Rene Allard – 105; 4. Mark Silva – 35; 5. Tony O’Sullivan – 32.

Owners: 1. Bamond Racing – 138.5; 2. Allard Racing – 34.90; 3t. Burke Racing – 34.35; 3t. Weaver Bruscemi – 34.35; 5. Jeff Snyder – 30.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will again take place next weekend at Meadowlands Racetrack, with the John Simpson Stakes for 3-year-old colt and filly trotters, the W.N. Reynolds Memorial for 3-year-old filly pacers, and eliminations for the Arthur Cutler Memorial for older trotters. On Sunday (May 10), Flamboro Downs will host Confederation Cup eliminations for 4-year-old open pacers.